Previously disclosed by the assignee of this application, in application Ser. No. 555,116 filed Nov. 23, 1983, is a three-bin feeder of which one bin is adapted for the supply of envelopes to the printing station of a printer. Therein, the envelope bin is held in a vertical position for feed of envelopes one by one to the printing station of the printer.
It has been found that the orderly feed of envelopes to the printing station of the printer at relatively high speed requires precise support of the envelopes in the stack with careful feed of the first envelope in the stack from the front of the stack, one by one, to the printing station in order to avoid jamming of the envelopes in the course of their feed from the envelope bin.
In the known art, various mechanisms have been employed to urge the stack of envelopes against the feed roller and these mechanisms rely on springs and adjustment means in order to regulate the biassing force and to keep the force active during the feeding operation of the envelopes.